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Dr Jack Bowman

Research Overview


I am a historian of anti-colonial visual media and a Teaching Fellow in Modern History. My first monograph, entitled Writing against Empire, applies a book history approach to twentieth-century empire and in particular the Pan-African movement of 1930s and 1940s Britain.

My research centres upon the role of political publishing and cultural communication in anti-colonial movements and looks at the connections, intersections, and differences between varying projects, mediums, and politics from across the imperial world. I have written about the editorial career of Indian independence activist V. K. Krishna Menon and the role of Pan-African journals under Guyanese activist Ras T. Makonnen.

I co-curated an exhibition entitled 'Cold War and 'Other Narratives'' in collaboration with the Imperial War Museums that opened at Dilston Grove in early 2026. I exhibited my own art-piece Mapping the colonial camera within this exhibition, and discuss the process in a recent peer-reviewed article published by PARSE.

I am currently working on a new book project focusing on the 'feeling' of solidarity within cross-imperial anti-colonial activism in early twentieth-century Europe, centring on the League Against Imperialism. This short-lived anti-colonial activist group counted many interwar internationalists as members, such as independent India's first prime-minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesia's first president Sukarno, Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta, and millionaire communist media baron Willi Münzenberg, as well as well-known public figures like physicist Albert Einstein and author Upton Sinclair.


Publications


Monographs:


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Peer-Reviewed Articles:


  • 'The Archive as an Emotional Body: Decolonial Narratives within the Imperial War Museums’ Archive', (Platform for Artistic Research Sweden) (2026, forthcoming)


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Other Writings:


Reviews:

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Podcasts/Video:

  • Podcast for the ÌÇÐÄTV History HourLink opens in a new window, student outreach radio programme,
  • Academic Comment for section on Brutalist Architecture for 's  documentary
  • Podcast for queer/disrupt with producer for , Dr Robert Philipson,

Outreach


  • Co-Curator, Dilston Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, February 2026.

Co-curated the , and exhibited own original visual piece, Dilston Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, opened February 2026.


  • Academic Advisor and Supporting Research Fellow, IWM North, January-October 2025.

Consulted for IWM North's '' entitled '' to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the 1945 Pan-African Congress, opened October 2025.


  • Academic Advisor, Imperial War Museums, January-October 2025.

Consulted on the exhibition , opened October 2025.


    • Consultant author for , May 2023-January 2025.

    Worked as a consultant author for Brillder, creating bespoke history learning resources for GCSE and A-Level students who aspire to attend university.


    Acted as the historian for George Padmore in online question and answer sessions with school children aged 10-18, speaking about the role of Black activists and figures in British history.


    Academic Profile


    2024-present: Teaching Fellow in Modern History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    - Co-convenor and lecturer for HI180 - Britain in the Twentieth Century: A Social HistoryLink opens in a new window

    - Seminar tutor and guest lecturer for HI2D4 - Race, Racism, and Resistance in Modern BritainLink opens in a new window

    - Seminar tutor and guest lecturer for HI177 - A History of Africa from 1800Link opens in a new window

    - Teaching Fellow Representative for Social Inclusion and Diversity CommitteeLink opens in a new window

    2024, July: Lecturer, ÌÇÐÄTV Summer School, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    2023-2024: Sessional Tutor in History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    2022-2023: Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant in History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    2019-2023: PhD in History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, supervisors: Professor Daniel BranchLink opens in a new window & Dr James PoskettLink opens in a new window

    2018-2019: MA in Modern History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    2015-2018: BA (Hons) in History, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    Research Interests


    • Book history
    • Global histories of empire
    • Histories of anti-colonialism
    • History of emotions
    • History of political thought
    • Queer histories
    • Visual media and photography

    Centres and Memberships


    Fellow of the (FHEA)

    Associate Fellow of the

    Convenor of the Modern British History Reading GroupLink opens in a new window

    Member of the Global History and Culture CentreLink opens in a new window, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    Member of the Manuscript and Print Cultures Research GroupLink opens in a new window, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    Postgraduate Student, European History Research CentreLink opens in a new window, University of ÌÇÐÄTV

    Conferences and Comments


    • Discussant for Global South Network seminar, University of Leicester, May 2026.

    '', speaker: Say Jye Quah (University of Cambridge)

    • Discussant for Global History and Culture Centre seminar, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, November 2023.

    'Knowledge Frontiers: The Sixth Pan African Congress and the Literature of Resource Sovereignty', speaker: Christine Okoth (KCL)

    • ÌÇÐÄTV Postgraduate Conference, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, May 2022.

    Paper entitled 'Printing Pan-Africanism: The Black Jacobins and the Early Political Thought of C.L.R. James'

    • ECR Workshop 'Mobile Bodies' (in conjunction with Prof. Radhika Singha's (JNU) visit to ÌÇÐÄTV), University of ÌÇÐÄTV, May 2022.

    Paper entitled 'V. K. Krishna Menon: An Editor in Britain'

      • Discussant for European History Research Centre seminar, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, October 2020

      'News Networks in Colonial Algeria', speaker: Arthur Asseraf (Cambridge)

      Awards


      April 2026: Nominated for a ÌÇÐÄTV Award for Personal Tutoring Excellence (WAPTELink opens in a new window)

      January 2025: One of two articles 'highly commended' in The Historical Journal's ECR article prize

      2019-2023: University of ÌÇÐÄTV, History Department Doctoral Scholarship

      jack.a.w.bowman@warwick.ac.uk

      Office hours (term time): 

      Thursdays, 1-2pm (in-person)

      Tuesdays, 2-3pm (online)


      Twitter:


      Jack Bowman, Mapping the colonial camera (2026) installation, Dilston Grove, Southwark Park Galleries. Photography by Studio Mitsi Moulson.


      George Padmore, Colonial and Coloured Unity

      George Padmore, 'Colonial and Coloured Unity: A Programme of Action, History of the Pan-African Congress' (Manchester, 1947).


      League Against Imperialism Brussels Congress 1927. (Source: Louis Gibarti (Hrsg.), Das Flammenzeichen vom Palais Egmont, Neuer Deutscher Verlag, Berlin).


      Amy Ashwood-Garvey chairs a panel at the Fifth Pan-African Congress, Manchester, October 1945. Image from the Black History and Culture Collection courtesy of Getty Images.

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